Randomised controlled trial of homoeopathy versus placebo in perennial allergic rhinitis with overview of four trial seriesCommentary: Larger trials are needed
In response to the homeopathic study by Taylor et al., at least one correspondent to BMJ has expressed the perennial and inevitable doubt as to the how of homeopathy, even as Taylor et al.'s rigorous trial adds to the weight of controlled clinical evidence that homeopathy can.
Anyone who studies the literature on homeopathy will soon find that considerable thought and research has already gone into attempting to answer this question. A common theme is that water, being the universal biological solvent, is somehow capable of being imprinted with information representing the identity of molecules that are vigorously "rubbed into it" during the succussion (vigorous shaking) phases of homeopathic dilution. As the toxic or pharmacologic potency of the diluted substance(s) are progressively (and, homeopaths believe, beneficially) reduced to the vanishing point, some transferable/recordable quality - perhaps an electromagnetic frequency pattern, as research by French immunologist Jacques Benveniste suggests (1) - is transferred deeper and deeper, as if by dyeing, into the watery medium. That such homeopathically treated water is physically different from untreated water is evidenced most recently by a study by Elia and Nicoli (2) in which the former generated significantly more exothermic heat upon mixing with acid or base solutions than identical water subjected to dilution without succussion. The effect lasted weeks.
The difference between a homeopathic dilution and the distilled water with which it is made may be analogous to the informationally profound difference between a magnetic tape, CD, hard drive, or other storage medium imprinted with text, music, video or other data and a blank one. What remains to be demonstrated is how fluid ("you can never step into the same stream twice") water could be such a medium.
References
Thomas Y, Schiff M, Belkadi L, Jurgens P, Kahhak L, Benveniste J. Activation of human neutrophils by electronically transmitted phorbol-myristate acetate. Med Hypotheses 2000; 54:33-9[Medline].
Elia V, Niccoli M. Thermodynamics of extremely diluted aqueous solutions. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1999; 879:241-8[Medline].
Rapid Response:
Homeopathy apparently can - but how?
In response to the homeopathic study by Taylor et al., at least one correspondent to BMJ has expressed the perennial and inevitable doubt as to the how of homeopathy, even as Taylor et al.'s rigorous trial adds to the weight of controlled clinical evidence that homeopathy can.
Anyone who studies the literature on homeopathy will soon find that considerable thought and research has already gone into attempting to answer this question. A common theme is that water, being the universal biological solvent, is somehow capable of being imprinted with information representing the identity of molecules that are vigorously "rubbed into it" during the succussion (vigorous shaking) phases of homeopathic dilution. As the toxic or pharmacologic potency of the diluted substance(s) are progressively (and, homeopaths believe, beneficially) reduced to the vanishing point, some transferable/recordable quality - perhaps an electromagnetic frequency pattern, as research by French immunologist Jacques Benveniste suggests (1) - is transferred deeper and deeper, as if by dyeing, into the watery medium. That such homeopathically treated water is physically different from untreated water is evidenced most recently by a study by Elia and Nicoli (2) in which the former generated significantly more exothermic heat upon mixing with acid or base solutions than identical water subjected to dilution without succussion. The effect lasted weeks.
The difference between a homeopathic dilution and the distilled water with which it is made may be analogous to the informationally profound difference between a magnetic tape, CD, hard drive, or other storage medium imprinted with text, music, video or other data and a blank one. What remains to be demonstrated is how fluid ("you can never step into the same stream twice") water could be such a medium.
References
Competing interests: No competing interests